Final regular season standings (9): Lethbridge (15-3); Grant MacEwan (15-3); Mount Royal (15-3); SAIT (11-7); Medicine Hat (8-10); Grande Prairie (5-7); Red Deer (6-12); NAIT (2-16); Camrose (1-17)
Playoff non-qualifiers:
Camrose: Eric Mauer, Pete Farris, Stephen Goss
Grande Prairie: Jim Bonin, Don Hogan, Mario Pare, Wayne Welter, Glen Greenshields, Maurice Meyers, Ken Szmeta, Dave Boyd, Gerald O’Reilly, Chuck Crennel, Ray Arledge, Larry Colgan, coach Hideo Fukushima
Medicine Hat Antelopes: Scott Duncan, Randy Butterfield, Bren Ennis, Rich Michaels; Eugene Pierson, Rob Grisonich, Denny Fox, Randy Hauck, Kelvin Lueck, Don Miller, Warren Ottenbreit, Mark Sylvestre, Mike Wright, Rod Zimmer, coach Arnie Frank
NAIT Ookpiks: Darrell Bokenfohr, Wayne Squires, John Perl, Uldis Celinskis, Rick Davidson, Ron Kelly, Doug Omichinski, Gene Gerwing, Dave Neil, Ken Plumb, Doug Roth, Brett Smith, Bruce Mackenzie, coach Dave Hoy, assistant Irwin Strifler, manager Don Onyschuk
Red Deer Kings: Stan Luca, Dan Hallet, Dale Barr, Wally Grab, Doug Vermilion, John Mireault, Lorne McKewan, Jack Morin, Doug Sather, Kevin Kubinec, Shaun Johnston, Myron Pearman, Jim Spiller, coach Wayne Lalor
In the semis, the SAIT Trojans nipped the host Lethbridge Kodiaks 70-69 on a pair of free throws by Gary Harding with eight seconds to play. Kodiaks coach Tim Tollestrup said “we came out red hot, then went cold, and then we would have another spurt. We had a real up and down game. We did a lot of basic things wrong.” Paul McArthur paced the Trojans with 21. Gary Harding added 13 and Frank Osterwoldt 10. The Trojans hit 36% from the floor. Dave Adams led the Kodiaks with 14. Rod Schmidt added 12, Mike Smith 12, Brian Mayzes 11 and Paul Leclaire 9. The loss ended the Kodiaks bid for a seventh consecutive ACAC crown. “It’s a tough loss for these kids,” said Kodiaks coach Tim Tollestrup. “That’s the one we had our eyes set on. You only get one shot at it. Now it’s over and they know it.” The Kodiaks led 36-34 at the half but fell behind 56-46 midway through the second half. They rallied to a 69-68 lead before Harding pulled out the win for the Trojans, who’d lost 6 times to the Kodiaks during the season. The Trojans hit 28-81 from the floor and 14-26 from the line. The Kodiaks hit 31-84 from the floor and 7-10 from the line. Trojans coach Terry Kimmel said that “for once, we didn’t fold in the stretch, and we hung on to win.” Tollestrup said “we lost on our outside shooting. We just didn’t have it. “Adams was seven-for-17, Webster three-for-nine, Smith six-for-17 . . . They just weren’t hitting that outside shot tonight. Rod (Schmidt) worked hard driving to the basket for us. For a little guy under all that tall timber, he came up with some phenomenal layups.”
In the other semi, the Mount Royal Cougars defeated the Grant MacEwan Griffins 71-68 as Dini Gini scored 13, Bill Dejong 11, Tim Herr 11 and Rob Wilson 10. Todd Rutherford led the Griffins with 20. Mike Dronyk added 19. The Griffins led 34-31 at the half but the Cougars took command midway through the second. “I think we got some crucial hoops at the right time,” said Cougars coach Jack Kenyon. “We pressed them 2-2-1 full court most of the game, and although it may not have looked like it was having much effect, it did force them into some turnovers in the first half.” Kenyon chose to stick with the press because “I just felt that sometime they were going to crack.” The Cougars hit 15-28 from the line while the Griffins were 8-14.
In the bronze medal match, the Grant MacEwan Griffins edged the Lethbridge Kodiaks 82-81 as Todd Rutherford drilled a jumper with eight seconds to play. Kodiaks coach Tim Tollestrup said “again, we started out strong and then we had a lapse, and then we looked good.” Rutherford paced the Griffins with 29. Del Rube added 14, Tony Cuglietta 12 and Neil Alsop 12. Dave Adams led the Kodiaks with 18. Paul LeClaire added 11, Brian Mayzes 11 and Jerry Humphries 9, along with 10 boards. The Kodiaks led 44-39 at the half. “We just didn’t have the shooting going for us again tonight,” said
Tollestrup. “Our forwards were flat. I think it was a case of a couple of ex-Kodiaks wanting to win a little more than the Kodiaks did … Rutherford came up with a fantastic game.” The Kodiaks also included Doc Kato, Leonard Boras, Murray Hughes, Jon Webster, Mike Smith, Ken Bailey, Morgan Monroe, Rod Schmidt, Robert Heggie, Rod Ririe and Barry Mehew.
In the final, the Mount Royal Cougars defeated the SAIT Trojans 75-63 as Tim Herr scored 19, Dan Neufeld 16, Rob Wilson 13 and Jamie Armstead 12. Paul McArthur led the Trojans with 15. Gary Harding added 15. The Cougars led 35-29 at the half, by 17 in the second half and always by at least 5. They hit 25-72 (.350) from the floor and 25-40 (.650) from the line, while the Trojans hit 23-96 (.240) from the floor and 17-26 (.650) from the line. “At the start of the second half, we went into a box-and-one,” said Cougars coach Jack Kenyon. “We put Rob Wilson on McArthur and played a four-man zone. The reason for that was I wanted to get them (the Trojans) off balance at the start of the half and get a little jump on them, and we did. It was pretty successful. I felt that was kind of the turning point. After that we had to go and play tough man-to-man and control the game.” The Trojans rallied when Wilson picked up his fourth foul and was forced to the bench. “That’s when SAIT started coming back, with Wilson out,” said Kenyon. “I didn’t want to put him back in too soon because I wanted him available later in the game. He’s really the key to our rebounding, our offence, everything. We lose a lot with him out. I feel our big men are more mobile than SAIT’s and we drew a lot of fouls. That was kind of our general game plan, to look inside first and see if we could draw the fouls.”
The all-tournament team featured: MVP Todd Rutherford (Grant MacEwan); Dave Adams (Lethbridge); Rob Wilson (Mount Royal); Tim Herr (Mount Royal); Paul McArthur (SAIT); and Gary Harding (SAIT)
The bronze medalist Grant MacEwan Griffins: Todd Rutherford; Mike Dronyk; Del Rube; Neil Alsop; Randy Gusikowski; Joe Nogolica; Keith Penner; Wayne Fermaniuk; Randy Gusikowski; Wayne Fermont; coach Phil Allen
The silver medalist SAIT Trojans: Paul McArthur; Gary Harding; Frank Osterwoldt; Jim Williams; Frank Lilley; Shane Carroll; Ken Bannister; Dave McLeod; Glenn Leroux; Brad Morrissey; Mark Ireland; Frank Lilley Jr; coach Terry Kimmel
The gold medalist Mount Royal Cougars: Dino Gini; Jamie Armstead; Rob Wilson; Dan Neufeld; Tim Herr;